Subjects: Youth Roundtable; Reconciliation.
E&OE..................
Well thank you very much David. Can I first of all thank David and his Parliamentary Secretary Trish Worth for all of the work they have put into organising and facilitating this Roundtable, which of course is another dimension. And can I thank all of you for coming along and making a contribution.
I'm not going to take my allotted time in haranguing you or delivering a formal speech. I want to convey a couple of observations to you about the presentations that have been given to me and in the time available I'd like to invite you to take the opportunity of asking me some questions. The whole purpose of gatherings like this is to give you access not only to the Minister responsible for affairs particularly affecting young people, but also to give you the opportunity of questioning me.
I take seriously my role as Prime Minister in giving people the opportunity in an uncomplicated informal Australian way of asking questions and putting their point of view to me. One of the things about Australia which is different from virtually any other country in the world is that the relationship between people in elected office and the general population is less formal, less structured, and therefore more accessible than is the case in most other countries. And I think the idea of a roundtable is excellent because I look around, I've read the CVs of all of you. I know some of you from other contexts, and you do represent a huge cross-section of the young people of Australia.
And I've been impressed with the note of both realism as well as the note of optimism in the presentations that have been made. You've identified clear areas of concern, but what you've put forward has not been a litany of negative comments, tinged with suggestions very sharply put in some cases for changes and reforms and improvements, it is also an acknowledgment that we have made a lot of progress. Australia in the last few weeks has had the opportunity of putting on display to the rest of the world what a remarkable country it is and what tremendous young people we have. And as I read the CVs before I came to the meeting here I was reminded of the great diversity. You've got people who have been very active in student affairs, you've got people who've been very active in running small businesses, you've got people who've been particularly active in putting forward the cause of people with disabilities in our community, you've got young people who represent different ethnic views, you have an emphasis on the aspirations of indigenous people in Australia, and importantly you have a group of people all of whom recognise that employment opportunities are fundamental to fulfilment at a personal level for young people. You are alive to some of the modern blights to young people within Australian society such as the alarmingly high level of youth suicide. Whenever you list the good things about Australia, there are many. When you list the things that are of great concern, it always seems to me the very high level of youth suicide particularly amongst young men in rural parts of Australia is one of those things that is deeply distressing and bewildering. Not bewildering to the extent that at a government level we shouldn't try to find solutions and we do have a program and Michael Woodridge would have told you something of it to tackle the problem of youth suicide. But I'm sure to all of us it's something which is of concern and bewilderment that in a society of such great opportunity and adequacy for so many there should be so many people who should feel such a sense of desperation about their own sense of human fulfilment and identity that they want to take their own lives.
Can I assure you that what you've put will be considered seriously. I won't insult your intelligence by saying that I agree with everything that's been put. I won't delude you into believing that we're going to act on every single thing that's been put forward. We won't do that. No government will. But we will take it seriously and we will take you seriously. I can promise you that. And perhaps in the spirit of exchange you might like to ask me some questions, raise some issues that are on your mind. I don't mind what they are. I'm very happy to respond to any sort of question you want to put to me but can I say that I do enjoy this opportunity. I always enjoy an intellectual interaction with young people and I appreciate very much the contribution that all of you are making to Australian society and I think it's a remarkable thing that we can get such a huge cross-section of young opinion around a roundtable that is indeed not round, and that all of us can I think derive a great deal of benefit. And again David I think you and Trish for what you have done. And we'll study what you've put forward and I'll be very happy to try and respond to your questions. Thank you very much.
QUESTION:
I was wondering, you understand that the youth view on reconciliation that the government should be perhaps a bit more proactive within that and that there's a lot of concern that things aren't moving quick enough at this point in time.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm glad you asked that question and I thought somebody might. Look, I think it's very important to understand that there is virtually nobody in Australia who is against reconciliation. The debate in the Australian community is not about whether we should have reconciliation. I'm very strongly in favour of it. The debate is really about the form that it should take. Some people identify reconciliation with the delivery of a formal national apology by the federal government in relation to past policies. Now, and people are critical of me and critical of the government because we don't do that. Other people see reconciliation as closing the opportunity gap between indigenous Australians and other Australians in areas like employment and education and health. I put far greater emphasis on that. I know that people are critical of me in relation to the formal apology. I have to wear that. We considered that. We take the view that you apologise for something that you did. I'm sorry for past injustices as a person, very sorry indeed. But I don't believe it is appropriate for the current generation to accept formal responsibility for what was done by earlier generations sanctioned by law at the time and in the eyes of many at the time with positive objectives. I don't think we achieve a lot by spending too much time navel gazing about the past. It's important to understand the impact of the past on the present and the future. But it's even more important in my view to recognise that if you have the right programs any Australian can aspire to the best of their ability. There's nothing that an indigenous person given the right opportunity can't achieve that the rest of the community can achieve. My ideal of reconciliation is equality of opportunity and the way you deliver equality of opportunity is to try and bridge the gaps. What I don't like about the reconciliation debate is that there is a view that the only people who believe in reconciliation are those people who believe in a particular form of reconciliation. Reconciliation means different things to different people. To me it's about bridging the gaps, it's about respecting the fact that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a special culture that is very old and is a very important part of our history, and it's about ensuring that people have equality of opportunity. It's not so much about the delivery of a formal apology. Now there'll be people in this room who'll disagree with me but I think we'd go on talking about that. But in the end what matters is that we all have a commitment to achieving reconciliation and I certainly do and my government does too.
QUESTION:
First of all it's a great honour for us to be here. I'd also just like to say without wanting to cause too much controversy that not all young people in Australia disagree with the Government's position on that subject and not all of us have great problems in accepting what is happening with reconciliation, thank you.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, I'm Cameron Mellam from Melbourne. My community access project deals specifically with reconciliation and you spoke about achieving reconciliation and that you are in favour of the process as a whole. Do you see that reconciliation with indigenous Australians achievable without a formal national apology?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I do, but others don't. I also happen to believe that we have a great deal more reconciliation in this country than a lot of critics allow for. I don't think race relations are as bad as I keep reading in the newspaper. I never read positive stories, I always read negative stories. I never read, do you know that the number of indigenous students attending TAFE colleges in Australia has increased quite significantly over the past few years? Do you know that even in some of the difficult areas of health measurement we have had improvements. We are filled with negative stories and I think that's very unfortunate and I think one of the difficulties is that the debate has been so hijacked by and so focused on forms of description of the past rather than on practical measures to remove disadvantage that we are in danger of being altogether too negative about it.
And I find as I go around the country that on the ground there's a lot of goodwill. I was out in Moree recently. I've been to many remote parts of Australia where there has been difficulty in the past between aboriginal communities and other parts of the Australian community and when you actually find towns grabbing their own solutions and working together and giving employment opportunities I wonder sometimes whether some of the people who write and talk about these things have ever been to some of these communities and have any real idea of the goodwill that exists. I was out to the Croc Eisteddfod in Moree a few months ago which is a wonderful thing, encouraging indigenous young artists. And there's a wonderful employment programme started by the cotton industry in that part of Australia and it's a vivid example to me of what happens when communities get together.
Now they're not debating whether you know what language should be used about the past, what they are trying to do is to get people in the year 2001 an opportunity of getting a job, an opportunity through that job of looking after their families and giving them a decent education. Now I accept the fact that there is a debate about issues such as a formal apology and I accept that a lot of people don't agree with my position, a lot of people do. I mean that is part of the democratic process, if people don't agree with my position they won't vote for me at the next election, that's the way democracy works on this or any other issue and I accept that.
But while we're having that debate can we please not allow it to engulf the whole indigenous issue, why don't we focus on those areas where we all agree? We all agree we should have better educational opportunities. We all agree we should improve aboriginal health. We all agree that communities should work together. We're all against racial discrimination and we're all against respecting aboriginal culture and their position as the first people of this country. Now we all agree on that and I think that's a marvellous base on which to build common points on reconciliation.
QUESTION:
Luke Martin from Hobart. On a different issue Prime Minister, do you see the immediate and future benefits and flow-ons from the Sydney Olympics are reaching down to rural and regional Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I just missed the first bit, I am sorry. I am a little bit deaf. So would you just repeat that question?
QUESTION:
Do you see the immediate and future flow-ons and benefits caused by the Sydney Olympics flowing down to rural and regional Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in a, I mean the benefits of the Olympics are both tangible and intangible. The more intangible benefits are the sense of national achievement and pride they've given us and the feeling that Australia can do anything if it puts itself to it. And that certainly comes through very strongly. There will be very strong tourist benefits in my opinion. I believe that the exposure of Australia, particularly to the more affluent tourist, potential tourist markets of North America will be of great benefit to many parts of Australia, not just to Sydney and the large cities, but also to the more popular holiday resorts and tourist resorts in regional Australia. I think the boost that's been given in that area will be of very great benefit.
There has been talk both by the Federal Government and some of the State Governments about encouraging some of our athletes to act as ambassadors for more healthy lifestyles all around Australia. I think that's a very good thing. It's very important we not only focus on elite sporting performance in Australia but we also focus on encouraging more people to play sport at what I might call a modest level. Most people who play sport play it modestly, but they want to play it to a certain degree of proficiency and they want to get a certain enjoyment out of it. And I regard a sports mad country as not only being a country that loves our successes, the successes of our elite athletes and sportsmen and women but also comprises millions of people who try to play sport in their own way more frequently and don't stop playing it after the age of thirteen or fourteen which unfortunately is the case. I think we have a bit of a disconnect between a lot of the facilities we have and the use of those facilities particularly after the end of ordinary school hours and things like that I am hoping to discuss with the State Premiers at the next COAG meeting - that's the meeting of all the governments of Australia which is going to take place in November.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, my name is Radal Van Hoop I am from the Environment Group. Throughout all of our research that we carried out over the period, even though we dealt with really different issues, one point that kept coming up from young people is that they really desire more education on environmental issues. So while they recognise that the Government is spending a lot of money on things environmentally related such as the $1 million to the Australian Greenhouse Office and your recent commitment to solving the salinity problem there's a desire for information. So my question is do you foresee more money being spent in the future in the particular area of environmental education?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I wouldn't, I think you ask me do I see more resources, I think it's, I certainly don't rule that out. I think it does have a certain place in an overall supportive approach to the environment. I do give a slightly greater emphasis to tackling what I might call the practical environmental challenges such as salinity, such as greenhouse gases, those things which directly affect our lives. But, and part of the process can I say of effectively tackling those issues is to provide people with far more environmental education. Everybody is far more aware of environmental issues now than they were when I was your age. Far more aware. And in a generation's time I suspect people your age will be even more aware than you are. You might find that, many of you, hard to imagine because the environment's a very important issue to many of you and I understand why. But it used to be in political terms what you could loosely call a peripheral issue, it's not any more, it's a mainstream political issue, everybody is very committed to sensible policies on the environment. There's debate about how you do it and there's debate about the different approaches but there's no real debate about the fact that it's a very important part of our lives and I think the process of its elevation has meant that people are a lot more educated and a lot more aware.
MC:
I am afraid we've run out of time now.
PRIME MINISTER:
One more. One more.
MC:
Yes?
PRIME MINISTER:
Emily? Sorry.
MC:
Emily, were you going to ask a question?
QUESTION:
I am also from the Environment Group, but on a different topic, at the Olympics when you went crowd surfing, was that a spontaneous decision or something you'd been thinking up for a while?
PRIME MINISTER:
Was it spontaneous? Absolutely.
Thank you very much.
[Ends]